MEMES: FOR FUN OR INTERNET BULLYING?

For many years, bullying is primarily a physical act that took place in school. However, as technology has advanced, the students had the opportunity to engage in different type of bullying: cyber-bullying. Now, cyber-bullying is not new neither because it is all over in the social media and internet.

Most of the bullying is not happening on school grounds anymore, but instead through the screens and buttons of mobile devices. From scandalous and inappropriate photos to viral memes, students are being teased and bullied as well as humiliated through the ever changing world of social media.

Memes are all over the internet these days. The photos paired with funny captions have come to spread throughout the online communication of the younger generation, and is nearly impossible to predict which ones will go viral.

But there are more to memes than must good fun. Social media companies are starting to realize many viral images have real victims with no good recourse when someone uses their image for a little mischief. Most people who view and share an embarrassing viral image of a random teenager won't know where the image came from, and they certainly won't know who the subject of the photo is.

It’s hard, even for the best of us, to empathize with an out-of-context photograph of a stranger. Therefore, it’s easy to get carried away and laugh at a funny meme without realizing that we are laughing at an actual person, with feelings and emotions. That boy/girl with special needs who is being teased online is someone’s son, someone’s friend, and someone with emotions. Ultimately, memes and cyber-bullying can affect a person’s emotional stability. This can definitely be harmful for the emotional stability of kids with special needs or anybody else who accidentally becomes an Internet punch line.